158 BIRD-HUNTING 



got to work a la Turque, and my things were 

 strewed about all over the floor. I had with me 

 tools and materials for preserving birdskins, and 

 when they found a bag of plaster of Paris, and 

 asked what it was, I told them ' Poison, arsenic' 

 The man who was holding it at once dropped it as 

 if it were red-hot, much to my amusement. But 

 he soon found a piece of insulated copper wire 

 belonging to the electric camera and took possession 

 of it. Anything of the nature of electric apparatus 

 is always regarded with great suspicion here, where 

 they have a lively apprehension of bombs. How- 

 ever, as I could not replace this I quietly took it 

 out of his hands and put it in my pocket. Next 

 moment the dry battery was unearthed. This con- 

 firmed their suspicions, and I had to give up again 

 the rescued wire, and they were promptly confis- 

 cated. I was by this time thoroughly angry, and 

 told them in plain language what sort of fools I 

 thought them, that the electric arrangement was 

 only for photographic purposes, and that I should 

 complain to the Vali, or Governor-General, and 

 insist on their return, and that he, the Vali, had 

 received telegraphic orders from Constantinople to 

 assist me, and had personally given me permission 

 to do as I liked here. 



Though I thought I made a decided impression 

 by all this, they still refused to give them up. But 



